The STRETCHIN' THE IVORIES FESTIVAL Continues Through March 5 With Marc Johnson, Eliane Elias, Renee Rosnes, Cyrus Chestnut and Eric Reed!
New York, NY - Jazz at Lincoln Center proudly announces the February 2006 lineup of performances at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola which features the continuation of the Stretchin' The Ivories Festival, starting with bassist / composer Marc Johnson, performing music from his new ECM recording Shades of Jade, with pianist Eliane Elias, saxophonist Joe Lovano and drummer Joey Baron. Following Johnson and company will be the fabulous pianist Renee Rosnes in Phantom of The Bopera, a celebration of the music of the legendary Joe Henderson. Valentine's week finds pianists Cyrus Chestnut and Eric Reed sharing a bill that promises to delight audiences with solo, duo, trio, and quartet performances. In another celebration of a jazz master, the ubiquitous pianist, composer and arranger Eric Reed celebrates the legendary Cedar Walton with an amazing band of leaders in their own right: Wycliffe Gordon, Stefon Harris and Terrell Stafford. Closing out February and wrapping up the Stretchin' The Ivories Festival is pianist / composer Cyrus Chestnut, celebrating the release of his new recording Genuine Chestnut on Telarc Records, featuring the phenomenal young guitarist Mark Whitfield.
Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola offers spectacular views and serves a jazz inspired menu seven days a week through the collaboration between Great Performances and Spoonbread culinary creators. Reservations can be made at 212-258-9595 or via the Jazz at Lincoln Center web site http://www.jalc.org.
Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola Schedule February 2006
UPSTARTS! Mondays at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola
Every Monday night, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, 7:30 & 9:30pm
Every Monday, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola will host a program entitled UPSTARTS! providing performance opportunities for students from area high schools and colleges, including Juilliard Jazz. $15 cover charge plus $10 minimum at tables/ $5 minimum at bar
January 31 - February 5
7:30 & 9:30pm Tuesday - Sunday, 11:30pm show Friday and Saturday Marc Johnson's Shades of Jade featuring Eliane Elias, Joe Lovano and Joey Baron
Marc Johnson (bass), Eliane Elias (piano), Joe Lovano (tenor saxophone), Joey Baron (drums)
Bassist Marc Johnson is perhaps best remembered as the last bassist for pianist Bill Evans from 1978 to his death in 1980. On the bassist's third ECM CD Shades of Jade, Johnson pays tribute to another great Evans band and bassist Scott LaFaro. The music here has the same kind of quiet intensity as its touchstone even if the group is larger - guitarist John Scofield, saxophonist Joe Lovano, pianist Eliane Elias and drummer Joey Baron round out the line-up. Johnson and Elias handle the composition responsibilities, both together and separately, and Elias's playing really shines as she provides prodding accompaniment. A wonderful expansion of Evans's lyrical trio concept, Shades of Jade accomplishes everything Johnson could have hoped for.
Pianist / composer / singer, Eliane Elias is known for her distinct and immediately recognizable musical style that blends her Brazilian roots with her impressive jazz and classical skills. Born in Sao Paulo, Elias' musical talents began to show at an early age. She started studying piano at age seven and at twelve, was transcribing solos from the great jazz masters. By the time she was fifteen she was teaching piano and improvisation at one of Brazil' s most prestigious schools of music. Her performing career began at age seventeen, working with Brazilian singer / songwriter Toquinho and the great poet Vinicius de Moraes who was also Antonio Carlos Jobim's co-writer / lyricist. In 1981 she headed for New York and in 1982 landed a spot in the acclaimed group Steps Ahead. She has since recorded and toured as a leader to critical acclaim.
Joyous Encounter, Joe Lovano's 17th recording for Blue Note, is an anomaly in his extraordinary career, as it marks the first time that the saxophonist has returned to the studio with the same band to record a sequel to his celebrated 2004 quartet record, I'm All For You: Ballad Songbook, a masterwork featuring Hank Jones on piano, George Mraz on bass and Paul Motian on drums. Lovano, whose discography is expansive both stylistically and thematically and who regularly changes ensemble configurations from one album to the next, decided to revisit the quartet magic, this time with a broader range of tempos, rather than rev up another one of his projects waiting in the wings for documentation.
Drummer Joey Baron was born into a Jewish working class family in Richmond, Virginia. He is largely self-taught by means of watching others play and listening to recordings, radio and television. His early influences ran the gamut from Ed Sullivan show guests to The Wild Wild West television show theme, to records by Art Blakey, Ray Charles, Booker T. & the MGs, James Brown, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. Besides being a member of the Bill Frisell Band for ten years until 1995, he has performed and recorded with an impressive list of musicians - including Carmen McRae, Dizzy Gillespie, Tony Bennett, Hampton Hawes, Chet Baker, Laurie Anderson, Art Pepper, Stan Getz, Lee Konitz, Joe Lovano, Vinicius Cantuaria, Jay McShann, David Bowie, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, Big Joe Turner, Philip Glass, John Abercrombie, Mel Lewis, Pat Martino, Harry Sweets Edison, David Sanborn, Al Jarreau, Jim Hall, Randy Brecker, Marian McPartland, John Scofield, Marc Johnson, The Lounge Lizards and many others.
January 30 - February 4
After Hours with Nathalie & Family with Marc Cary Nathalie Dangerfield (vocals), Marc Cary (piano), Antonio Dangerfield (trumpet), Matt Rybicki (bass), Sean Kelly (drums)
February 6: Upstarts! with Juilliard Jazz Ensemble 7:30 & 9:30pm
February 7 - 12
7:30 & 9:30pm Tuesday-Sunday, 11:30pm show Friday and Saturday Renee Rosnes - Phantom of The Bopera: The Music of The Legendary Joe Henderson
Renee Rosnes (piano), Jimmy Greene (tenor saxophone), Eddie Henderson (trumpet), Peter Washington (bass), Lewis Nash (drums) The extraordinary pianist and composer Renee Rosnes clearly enjoys the challenge and freedom of playing jazz in numerous formats. Her eight previous Blue Note recordings featured her, brilliantly, in smaller ensembles. Now, on her ninth Blue Note release, Renee Rosnes and the Danish Radio Big Band, Rosnes mines the experience gained during her impressive tenures with both the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band and The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Renee Rosnes and the Danish Radio Big Band puts her in the spotlight with the revered Copenhagen ensemble, and reveals her capacity to shine within a jazz orchestra context. Renee is also a founding member of the San Francisco Jazz Collective, an all-star resident and touring octet led by artistic director Joshua Redman. Drawn from the top ranks of today's jazz artists, the band includes master vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, and the young alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon.
The late, legendary saxophonist and composer Joe Henderson was a major influence and creative force in jazz, and a much sought after artist by fans and fellow musicians for more than three decades. From the moment he emerged in the 1960s Henderson's playing was distinctive, unique, unflinchingly powerful and beautiful. Many of his compositions have become standards, including the first tune he ever put to paper, “Recorda Me." He went on to have a successful recording and touring career through much of the 1990s and was named an NEA Jazz Master in 1999.
February 13: Upstarts! with the Duquesne University Jazz Ensemble featuring Sean Jones 7:30 & 9:30pm
February 14 - 19
7:30 & 9:30pm Tuesday - Sunday, 11:30pm show Friday and Saturday Valentine's Sweetheart of a Week With Two Great Keyboardists Sharing The Bill Every Night: Cyrus Chestnut and Eric Reed
Cyrus Chestnut, Eric Reed (piano), Gerald Cannon (bass), Willie Jones III (drums)
Playing piano solos, duos, trios, and two-piano quartets each set.
This week the soulful, sweet and serious pianist Cyrus Chestnut teams up with the swinging, sophisticated artistry of pianist Eric Reed for a Valentine's Sweetheart of a Week.
Cyrus Chestnut began his professional life working with such celebrated modern artists as Wynton Marsalis and his Jelly Roll Morton influences can still be heard. But, Cyrus has learned from great jazz musicians of many eras and this shines through in his music. Born in Baltimore, Maryland on January 17, 1963, Chestnut first received musical training at age 5 from his father. His first public performance was two years later at the Mt. Calvary Star Baptist Church in Baltimore. He received further musical training at the Peabody Institute where he obtained a certificate in Piano and Music theory. Between 1981 and 1985, Chestnut attended the Berklee College of Music where he graduated with a degree in Jazz Composition and Arranging. While there, he received the Eubie Blake Fellowship in 1982, the Oscar Peterson Scholarship in 1983, and the Quincy Jones Scholarship in 1984. Cyrus began his professional career working with Jon Hendricks (1986 - 88), Terence Blanchard and Donald Harrison (1988-90), and Wynton Marsalis (1991). In September of 1991 he began a two-year tenure with jazz legend Betty Carter. Then, Chestnut actively launched his career as a leader with the album titled Revelation which was released by Atlantic Jazz in 1994.
Born in Philadelphia on June 21, 1970, Eric Reed grew up playing Gospel music in his father's storefront Baptist church, starting at the age of five. Reed was bitten by the jazz bug at a young age after hearing recordings of Art Blakey, Ramsey Lewis and Dave Brubeck. Eric started out in the bands of Teddy Edwards, Gerald Wilson, Clora Bryant and John Clayton. He attended Cal State Northridge for one year during which he toured briefly with Wynton Marsalis at age 18. A year later, Eric joined Marsalis' Septet (1990-91; 1992-95). He spent two years with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (1996-98), making countless recordings and TV appearances with them. Reed also worked in the bands of Freddie Hubbard and Joe Henderson (1991-92). Eric continues to perform and record with an assorted multitude of masters such as, Benny Carter, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Cassandra Wilson, Jimmy Heath, Clark Terry, Dianne Reeves and a host of other diverse performers including Natalie Cole, Patti Labelle, Oleta Adams and Quincy Jones.
Since 1995, Eric has been touring the world with his own ensembles, making serious waves in the jazz community. The legendary Ahmad Jamal has called Eric, “one of my very favorite pianists." Eric's recording Pure Imagination shot to #1 on the Gavin chart and stayed there for seven weeks, earning him the 1999 Gavin Artist of the Year award. His next recording, Manhattan Melodies was also #1 on Gavin for several weeks. Eric's latest CD releases include Merry Magic and Mercy and Grace, both on the Nagel-Heyer label.
February 20: Upstarts! with Waseda University Jazz Band and Juilliard Jazz Ensemble 7:30 & 9:30pm
February 21 - 26
7:30 & 9:30pm Tuesday - Sunday, 11:30pm show Friday and Saturday
EVERGREENS - THE MUSIC OF CEDAR WALTON: Eric Reed Quartet plus special guests Stefon Harris, Wycliffe Gordon, and Terell Stafford
Eric Reed (piano, arrangements), with special guests Stefon Harris (vibes), Wycliffe Gordon (trombone), Terell Stafford (trumpet)
The ubiquitous pianist, composer and arranger Eric Reed celebrates the legendary Cedar Walton with an amazing band of leaders in their own right: Wycliffe Gordon, Stefon Harris and Terrell Stafford.
For over 25 years, pianist Cedar Walton has enjoyed an up-tempo career. Maintaining a non-stop itinerary, Walton has accompanied a litany of Jazz greats while also fronting his own successful groups. Born January 17, 1934 in Dallas, Texas, Walton set his sights on a career in music at an early age. An after-hours gig at the Denver Club introduced him to notable musicians like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane. From there, Walton ventured to New York and began to work locally with Lou Donaldson, Gigi Gryce, Sonny Rollins and Kenny Dorham before landing his first touring job with J.J. Johnson. Soon after, the pianist made his recording debut backing Kenny Dorham on the Riverside album Kenny Dorham Sings. He also made two records with J.J. Johnson' s group on Columbia Records before joining the Art Farmer/Benny Golson Jazztet, a group he toured and recorded with for two years. Walton's next major musical association was with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. During his three years tenure with Blakey, Walton stepped forward as a composer, contributing originals like “Mosaic" and “The Promised Land" to the group's recordings for the Blue Note and Riverside labels.
Walton's debut recording as a leader came in 1966 with the release of Cedar on Prestige Records. From the late sixties to early seventies, Walton kept steady company with bassist Sam Jones and drummers Louis Hayes and Billy Higgins in multi-purpose trios that occasionally annexed saxophonists Clifford Jordan, George Coleman or Bob Berg for specific tours and albums. Walton's efforts have been well documented on record. In addition to a host of dates as a sideman, the pianist has been recording with his own groups at a prolific rate, as evidenced by an assortment of albums on the Timeless, Discovery, Red Baron and Steeple Chase record labels.
Cedar Walton is one of the most influential musicians active today. His original compositions like “Bolivia," “Clockwise" and “Firm Roots" are frequently recorded by other musicians, and have become part of the standard jazz repertoire. His playing regularly receives praise from critics, fellow jazz musicians and audience around the world. Cedar Walton has emerged as a true master of the music he loves.
February 28 - March 5
7:30 & 9:30pm Tuesday - Sunday, 11:30pm show Friday and Saturday Cyrus Chestnut Quintet Featuring Master Guitarist Mark Whitfield
***FINAL WEEK OF THE STRETCHIN' THE IVORIES FESTIVAL***
(Schedule subject to change.)
About Jazz at Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola
Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, one of the three main performance venues located in Jazz at Lincoln Center's new home at Frederick P. Rose Hall, is an intimate 140-seat jazz club, set against a glittering backdrop with spectacular views of Central Park that provides a hip environment for performance, education and other special events. The club also includes fine dinner, dessert and late night menus by New York culinary creators Great Performances and Spoonbread Inc. Jazz at Lincoln Center is a not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to jazz and advances a unique vision for the continued development of the art of jazz by producing a year-round schedule of performance, education, and broadcast events for audiences of all ages.
Jazz at Lincoln Center is a not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to jazz. With the world-renowned Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, and a comprehensive array of guest artists, Jazz at Lincoln Center advances a unique vision for the continued development of the art of jazz by producing a year-round schedule of performance, education, and broadcast events for audiences of all ages. These productions include concerts, national and international tours, residencies, weekly national radio and television programs, recordings, publications, an annual high school jazz band competition and festival, a band director academy, a jazz appreciation curriculum for children, advanced training through the Juilliard Institute for Jazz Studies, music publishing, children's concerts, lectures, adult education courses, film programs, and student and educator workshops. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis, Chairman of the Board Lisa Schiff, President & CEO Derek E. Gordon, Executive Director Katherine E. Brown and Jazz at Lincoln Center board and staff, Jazz at Lincoln Center will produce hundreds of events during its 2005 - '06 season. In October 2004, Jazz at Lincoln Center opened Frederick P. Rose Hall - the first-ever performance, education, and broadcast facility devoted to jazz.
For more information please visit www.jalc.org
For more information contact All About Jazz.
